D’haen
SHORT COMMUNICATION
A confirmed sighting of Pousargues’s Mongoose Dologale dybowskii in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mathias D’HAEN 1*
Abstract. 1. Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS), Kamýcká 961/129, 165 With less than a handful of observations, Pousargues’s Mongoose Dologale dybowskii 21 Prague 6-Suchdol, Czech is one of the world’s least known carnivores. This report describes a confirmed Republic. observation of Pousargues’s Mongoose in Garamba National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the 2nd of October 2016, being only Garamba’s first Correspondence: reported sighting in more than 50 years.
Mathias D’haen Résumé. [email protected] La mangouste de Dybowski Dologale dybowskii est considérée comme l’un des carnivores les moins connus du monde. Cette note décrit l’observation d’une Associate editor: mangouste de Dybowski au Parc National de la Garamba (République Démocratique Emmanuel Do Linh San du Congo) faite le 2 octobre 2016, étant seulement la première observation en plus de 50 années.
http://www.smallcarnivoreconservation.org Keywords: Savannah mongoose, Nagero, Herpestidae, Sudano Guinean savannah, ISSN 1019-5041 African Parks.
After a period of more than three decades without any reported observation in their currently known range in Africa, Pousargues’s mongooses have been confirmedly seen in July 2013 at Semliki safari lodge, Uganda (Woolgar 2014), and between 2009 and 2015 in the Chinko reserve, Central African Republic (Aebischer et al. 2013, Thierry Aebischer, pers. comm. 2016). Except for these observations, the species is only known from 31 museum specimens and a handful of historical observations (Aebischer et al. 2015).
Carrying out a research on the local Kordofan giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum population, I am currently based in Garamba National Park (Figure 1A). During a late morning walk, on October 2 2016, in the park management camp, I observed a single mongoose on a road towards the river, which I could not immediately identify (exact location: 3° 45’ 18.5” N, 29° 31’ 28.6” E; altitude: 737 m asl; Figure 1B). The animal had a generally brown body with a tint of ochre, a distinct grey head and a pink nose that was visible from the rather long distance I was standing (±40 m). The grey head with pink nose and brown edges around the eyes gave a mask-like impression. Overall the mongoose had quite a compact body with short legs.
69 Small Carnivore Conservation 55: 69–72 Pousargues’ mongoose in Garamba NP
A B
Figure 1. (A) Garamba National Park is located in the far north-eastern corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo and (B) exact location of the observation in close proximity of Garamba National Parks’ headquarters (Source: Google EarthTM).
After observing it with my binoculars, I could take a few pictures (Figures 2A–C) before the mongoose ran off in the vegetation. Having little experience with the family Herpestidae I had no idea of the identity of the species I had just observed, let alone its rarity. Later, when determining the observed mongoose based on the pictures, I assumed that it must have been a Pousargues’s mongoose. Therefore, I got in contact with Chris and Mathilde Stuart who confirmed species’ identity.
When looking at the pictures, the strongly developed claws (Figure 2A) and bushy tail (Figure 2B), as described in “The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals” by Jonathan Kingdon (1997) are present as well. A B C
Figure 2. (A–C) Pousargues’s Mongoose Dologale dybowskii at Garamba National Park, DR Congo, 2 October 2016 (Photos: M. D’haen).
The determination of the animal is based on the combination of characteristics mentioned above. Similar-looking species could be excluded. Dwarf mongoose Helogale parvula has similar looking characteristics and is probably the species with which Pousargues’s mongoose is mostly confused with, but it has a more compact body and does not occur in Garamba National Park (Kingdon 1997).
Small Carnivore Conservation 55: 69–72 70 D’haen
Even though Garamba National park is historically known as a site of occurrence of Pousargues’s Mongoose (Verschuren 1958, Stuart & Stuart 2013), this species had not been seen and/or reported in the last 50 years. However, this might well not be a representative reflection of its actual presence. Since Garamba National Park and surrounding areas were plagued by political instability, the park was focusing more on defending its wildlife against poachers and rather limited in energy to spend at inventories.
The park management camp lies roughly on a border zone of two vegetation types, being tropical wet savannah and wooded savannah, although the habitat type in the vicinity of the observation fits more onto wooded savannah (Figure 3). Urelytrum giganteum, Piliostigma thoningii, Kigelia africana and Vitex doniana are abundant species at the location where the animal was seen (Figure 1B). Several swamps with a high abundance of Papyrus Cyperus papyrus are in the direct proximity (<50 m) of the location the mongoose was seen. This habitat description is similar to the habitat type described by Aebischer et al. (2013), who reported savannah woodland as the most abundant habitat type. Other authors reported different habitat types as well. Aebischer et al. (2013) make notice of observations in thick riparian vegetation on the border of Lake Albert, while Stuart et al. (2008) reported observations in mountain forest grassland.
Figure 3. Habitat in which Pousargues’s Mongoose Dologale dybowskii was detected at Garamba National Park, DR Congo (Photo: M. D’haen).
71 Small Carnivore Conservation 55: 69–72 Pousargues’ mongoose in Garamba NP
To conclude, this article describes the observation of a confirmed Pousargues’s mongoose Dologale dybowskii, being one of only a handful of observations in the world and the first since more than 50 years for Garamba National Park. This does not necessarily mean that the species did not occur in the region during this period. The lack of reported observations in the region might fit with earlier assertions that the species’ geographical distribution correlates with politically unstable regions (Aebischer et al. 2013) and that “not everyone takes a great deal of interest in most smaller animals” as Woolgar (2014) mentioned.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Giraffe Conservation Foundation for technical and financial support. Many thanks to Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and African Parks Network who have made it possible to carry out my research in Garamba National Park, as well as the Czech University of Life sciences for informational and financial support. Also, thanks to Jon Hall and Chris and Mathilde Stuart for their help and opinion about the determination. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Francesco Angelici for his comments, and to Emmanuel Do Linh San for reviewing this article.
References Aebischer T, Hickisch R, Klimek M & Parkison A. 2013. Probable records of Pousargues’s Mongoose Dologale dybowskii in the Chinko/Mbari drainage basin, Central African Republic. Small Carnivore Conservation 48: 101–103. Aebischer T, Hickisch R, Woolgar J & Do Linh San E. 2015. Dologale dybowskii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T41598A45205821.
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